A millennium later, a seven-man team of Indian sailors is to set sail from Mumbai for the South East Asia on a three-month voyage of discovery. The mission here is to simulate the Chola naval expedition in a sailing vessel using the forgotten tools and techniques used by the seafarers of the imperial Cholas.

The methods used by the Cholas weren't elaborately complicated as B Arunachalam, retired Geography professor of the Mumbai university and leader of the expedition, explains. ``Remember, the compass is a recent invention. While the Chola seafarers read directions by looking at the sun, at night, they calculated direction by holding out their fists to certain celestial constellations.''

``But due to the lack of any Indian documentation on the subject, we didn't know the technical data the Cholas used,'' says Arunachalam.However, the professor obtained a precise reading of Chola tabulations by reading Arab texts where medieval Arab sailors compared their values to those of the Indian mariners.

Arunachalam presented a paper on the topic at a seminar in Mumbai last December when the seeds of the unique expedition were sown. He explored the feasibility with two sailing enthusiasts Surendra Kulkarni and Vivek Ganpule, working at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). The duo had sailed on two previous marathon expeditions from Mumbai to Calcutta and later Mumbai to Lakshadweep.

The group also roped in the Thane-based Institute for Oriental Study and the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography to support the expedition.

Arunachalam hopes to validate these ancient Chola readings by actually sailing on the sea route taken by the Cholas, even sailing in the same season they sailed. The voyage will take the crew from Mumbai to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and then around the Indonesian island of Sumatra and back,a journey of 7150 nautical miles.

``We also want to prove that Indians were great seafarers,'' says Ganpule. As the enthusiasts explain these little-known facts of history, the imperial Cholas who ruled South India between the 11th and 12th century AD held a unique place in India's maritime history. No other maritime expedition was as spectacular as their naval expeditions, who had the mightiest naval fleets known in India.

However, trying to rebuilding a period sailing vessel from keel-up would be prohibitively expensive and would end up costing several crore rupees. So the group decided to borrow a 35-foot long craft in Mumbai for the purpose.

While Arunachalam will use traditional navigational methods to guide the boat, one member of the crew will be equipped with all that modern navigation gizmos from radars to Global Positioning System and an echo sounder, intervening only in case of an emergency.

``However, this crew member will maintain a separate log of his readings to be compared with ourreadings after the voyage. He will intervene only in case of an emergency,'' says Kulkarni.

Racing to raise finances for their voyage which begins in eight months, the duo rue the fact that adventure sailing is still so backward in the country that both Kulkarni and Ganpule will have to apply for special leave from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF).